The Final Gift
by BloodInkLilacQuill
Summary: Artemis finds Butler dying and gives him a final gift, *Slight Gore Warning* Nonslash One-shot


**Just a little something that refused to disapear while I was attempting to write something else. Kinda sad but refused to leave until it was written, so here it is.**

**Ok so I reposted this mostly because there are a lot of people who added this to their alerts list and I wanted to make it clear, one-shot, no more is coming... ever most likely and Im sorry to say that, but its true, ok, back to the story!  
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><p><span>The Final Gift<span>

Artemis awoke to a blinding pain in the back of his head, and a dead weight keeping him down. He shoved with all his might but could not move. Finally and with more physical energy then he had ever used before, he managed to slip out from the weight. He took a moment to catch his breath and then turned to what had kept him down, the helicopter door. He could tell just by the wreckage around him that this had not been a sabotage but an accident, a sabotage would have been far worse, and Butler would have found it.

Speaking of Butler, Artemis looked around until he saw Butler's form. He crawled over to the still form, his heart pounding in fear. He removed the helicopter seating which had landed shredded on top of Butler, and tried to wake the giant man. Artemis knew he was not dead, but he needed the man to wake up, even if there was no danger at the current time.

It took some moments but when he did wake up, he was fully awake, his eyes were crystal clear and he was completely coherent.

"I see no wounds but I would still advice you to remain still." Artemis said, checking Butler's arms for any fractures or wounds with one hand, almost as if he were afraid to touch the much larger man.  
>"I can't move." Butler said factually. He did not like this feeling, the inability to move, to check Artemis for injury, to survey the area. Artemis finished checking his bodyguards' arms, legs and head for injury, he then turned Butler over, and stopped.<p>

It was bad, real bad, Artemis had never been forced with a situation like this and found, he was oddly calm.  
>"Butler my friend, your dying." Artemis considered that, given their long work history and friendship, he should have used his first name, but using the name he had used all his life, well it had felt appropriate though some might say too formal.<p>

"How long?" Asked Butler, he too sounded much too calm.  
>"If you don't move, five maybe seven minutes." Artemis said, rolling Butler gently down onto his back. Artemis pondered why he was not crying, attempting to save Butler, doing something other than sit and ponder the odd calmness that had settled into his mind. Slowly it came to him why he was not trying to save his friend, but he decided he would, for his friends benifit, keep his reasons to himself. Butler had been a great bodyguard, the best, he deserved this time now, and the long rest afterward. Artemis supposed, if there was a heaven, and it truly made everyone happy, that Butler's would be a lovely bed to rest on, for the rest of eternity.<br>"Youll call Juliette?" Butler said, his gaze penetrating Artemis's thoughts.

"Yes, I'll call her, would it be to rude of me to have her gaurd me until another gaurd can be found?" Artemis asked.  
>"Call my buddy at the bar for that." Butler said, it sounded like it was getting harder for him to breath. "He's retired but he owes me one."<br>"Do you have any parents I should call, specific friends?" Artemis asked as he wiped away blood that was growing at the corner of Butler' mouth, he had split his lip and the talking had reopened it.  
>"No, just Juliette, and madam, they will know what to do." Butler said, his breath was getting shorter and more labored.<br>"Anything specific with your body? Anywhere you want to be burried or scattered?" Artemis asked, now the tears started in his eyes and the calmness started to leave, he realized he must have been in shock.  
>"Its all taken care of." Butler said, he could barely speak now but his eyes were as piercing as ever.<br>"Any final requests?" Artemis asked, his gut started to clench and he felt a terrible pain there but he ignored it, ignored the stress, he would do this one last thing for his friend, a final gift for the most loyal, brave man he knew.  
>"Only one I can think of. Give my love to my sister Juliette." Butler said,<br>"Butler my friend, I don't want you to leave me." Artemis said, his voice started to shake and somewhere at the back of his mind he was aware it even sounded a little girly. But he didn't care.

"I am tired Artemis, being your bodyguard has been the best job I ever had, but I deserve to rest now." Butler said, the words were airy and spaced apart almost undecipheringly and so whispered that Artemis had to turn his face away from Butler and put his ear to his mouth to hear him.

It became clear Butler had finished talking and so Artemis pulled away. Seeing Butler's still face Artemis nodded approval and sat back, one hand still gripping his midsection in a tight lock. He unclenched his unfree arm, and freed it from the hold he had been clutching to ebb the bleeding.

The blood he had been slowing started to pour now but he no longer cared, there was no way to free either of them, no help would be coming for days, if at all. He felt all of his strength leaving and had to put his head back against whatever wreckage was behind him. Artemis was shaking, he had never envisioned dying alone, he considered, had he done the wrong thing by not telling Butler he too was dying? No, he decided, he had given Butler the peace of mind in death that he deserved, even though it now meant he would die alone, in the middle of no where. Every bodyguard who donates their lives to protecting others deserves to know at the end, that they had succeeded, what better final gift could Artemis ever give? With a smile on his lips Artemis let out his final breath, no longer scared, no longer alone, he knew a great big guardian angel on the other side that was right there to catch him.

It was some months before two bodies were found and identified as Demovoi Butler, and Artemis Fowl. They were found as skeletons, the bigger one, protectively bear hugging the smaller against the elements.

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><p><strong>I hope you enjoyed the read, and that it might have invoked some sort of emotional response, which is what I was going for... It's my first sad story, ever, it took a lot of thought and time, more then it should have possibly but here you are...<strong>


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